Fourth floor column from Weaver's Mill, the first reinforced concrete building in Britain, 1898

Reinforced concrete column from the fourth floor of Weaver's Mill Building, Swansea, the first reinforced concrete building in Britain. Designed by Francois Hennibique, built by Louis Gustave Mouchel, 1898.

The combination of iron or steel within concrete – so-called reinforced concrete – was a revolution for building construction and civil engineering. In 1854 Newcastle plasterer William Wilkinson took out the very first patent for combining concrete with iron bars after extensive trials and tests, but it was only after French engineer Francois Hennebique patented his system of building with reinforced concrete in 1892, that the revolution began. Completed in 1898 using Hennebique's system, Weaver’s Mill in Swansea, Wales, was the first building in Britain to be built using reinforced concrete. All the construction materials - the cement, aggregate and steel - were imported from France. The Mill was demolished in 1984 to make way for a supermarket.